'Excessive Heat' Affected New Brunswick's Water Supply Last Week

New Brunswick NJ

18 July, 2021

9:16 PM

Description

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Excessive heat and humidity last week not only caused flooding throughout Central Jersey, but the city of New Brunswick's water supply was even threatened due to algae blooms in the water supply. Several New Brunswick residents complained on Facebook their water tasted like dirt. As of Friday, the city of New Brunswick was flushing the drains. "Our Water Utility continues to aggressively address this," said New Brunswick city spokesman Bert Baron. "Flushing operations were done earlier this week and work is ongoing at the sources." The city of New Brunswick sources its drinking water from the Delaware & Raritan Canal and Farrington Lake, a freshwater reservoir in Milltown. "Excessive heat is causing a buildup of organic material in the basins of our sources of water, namely the D&R Canal and Farrington Lake," the city of New Brunswick posted on its Facebook page last Wednesday. "While the water is safe to consume and use, some may detect the presence of a noticeable taste or odor. In order to address the issue, the Water Utility is flushing the system this morning and will continue the flushing process through tomorrow." "Additionally, odor-reducing carbon has been added at the sources as part of the treatment process to eliminate the problem," said New Brunswick. Be the first to know. Sign up to get Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: [email protected]